


Unquantifiable

by BlossomsintheMist



Category: Avengers (Comics), Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel 616, The Avengers - All Fandoms
Genre: M/M, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-23
Updated: 2012-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 21:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlossomsintheMist/pseuds/BlossomsintheMist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are a lot of things that Tony loves about Steve.  Too many to count.  Little things and big things, some things so small it makes him feel stupid just to think about them.  And yet, like an idiot, he still tries to count them sometimes, bring all of them to mind, remember them, so that he doesn’t forget, doesn’t take them for granted.  He’s always been too good at taking people for granted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unquantifiable

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the main Marvel continuity of the 616 verse, but it can be applied to most universes, probably, assuming a relationship between Tony and Steve, of course.

There are a lot of things that Tony loves about Steve. Too many to count. Little things and big things, some things so small it makes him feel stupid just to think about them. And yet, like an idiot, he still tries to count them sometimes, bring all of them to mind, remember them, so that he doesn’t forget, doesn’t take them for granted. He’s always been too good at taking people for granted.

For example, he loves the way Steve frowns when he doesn’t get the joke or the reference, the little crease he gets just between his eyebrows that always makes Tony want to explain even though explaining usually just makes Steve self-conscious. And he loves the way Steve listens to people, like he’s paying attention to every word, like he really cares what they’re saying. He loves the square-jawed noble look Steve gets, loves the little dimple he gets at the side of his mouth when he smiles and the way his smile, bright and brilliant, can light up a room. He loves all his smiles, from the one that puts incandescent lights to shame and makes people want to salute something, to the aw-shucks grin with its touch of sweetness that makes Steve look young and a little like a high school football player, and the self-deprecating smile that ended up on most of his war bond posters.

He loves the way Steve thinks, tactical and straightforward and strategic, the way he smirks at the villains they fight, his cheerfulness despite all his serious earnestness. The way Steve is so earnest and genuine it makes everyone else look disingenuous sometimes. He loves the fact that Steve, the perfect soldier, took the time to teach Tony how to fight, and is always not just willing but eager to spar with him, and he loves the way Steve puts his hand on the small of Tony’s back or on his shoulder when he comes up behind him, the way Steve stalls out awkwardly whenever he tries to discuss his emotions but can give the most inspiring speeches Tony’s ever heard, the way he stands up to attention and puts his hand over his heart at the Star-Spangled Banner so sincerely it makes Tony do it, too, and the tick he gets in his jaw when the Yankees win or the Dodgers lose, even now. He loves the way Steve never drinks around him, and will pour out his drink when Tony shows up even if he didn’t expect Tony to be there, even though Tony’s problems with alcohol aren’t Steve’s.

He loves the way Steve always expects the best from him, not the worst the way so many other people do, and won’t accept anything less, even when it doesn't make any sense that he would, even when it hurts to know he’s let Steve down. The way he listens to Tony’s explanations of tech even though Tony is pretty sure they sound something like “blah blah blah transistors” to his ears and grins a little at Tony’s jokes even when he doesn’t get them. Steve is noble and generous and always does the right thing, and Tony even loves the stubborn look he gets, the flex of his jaw when he’s not going to be swayed on something, even when he wants Steve to be swayed, because that means no matter how bad things get, no matter how bad Tony gets or how vast his failures, Steve will always be good, and Tony can have faith in that, that Steve is strong enough that Tony won’t be able to destroy him. He loves how much of a Boy Scout Steve is, how clean-cut, how seeing a girl with her top off still makes him blush, even when it’s Jan or Carol who he’s known for years, even when he’s had fantastically dirty sex with Tony the night before.

He loves that Steve will have fantastically dirty sex with him, the pure physicality he has in bed, having all that sincerity and force of personality and athletic enthusiasm focused on him, loves that Steve is sleeping with _him_ , Tony Stark, and that his ears turn red when Tony talks about it, even though Steve draws pictures of Tony doing exactly those fantastically dirty things, in between the pictures of everyday landscapes and the city asleep and the sketches of the Avengers, which probably number in the millions by now.

He loves that Steve draws, loves his eye for detail and sensitive hands. He has a few of Steve’s sketches of the armor and the Quinjets framed and hanging in his bedroom, even though Steve protests they aren’t that good, because somehow there’s nothing more amazing to him than seeing his own work, what he’s so passionate about, drawn through Steve’s artist’s eye.

Most of all, Tony loves that Steve loves him, even if he can’t quite figure out how or why, and that might be the thing he loves most of all, because he can’t understand it.

But Steve does, and maybe that's enough. Maybe that's all they need.


End file.
